Officials in western Canada are urging people not to flush their pet goldfish down the toilet because they're surviving and multiplying at an alarming rate.
Environmental officers in the province of Alberta say they've found goldfish the size of dinner plates in the region's storm ponds. Forty of the fish were pulled from a single pond in the north of the province earlier this year, the CBC News website reports . "That's really scary because it means they're reproducing in the wild, they are getting quite large and they are surviving the winters that far north," says Kate Wilson from Alberta's environment department. Goldfish are considered an invasive species in Canada, and the government is worried they could upset fragile local ecosystems.
As a result, it has launched a campaign warning people of the trouble flushed pets can cause - even if they have already gone to the big goldfish pond in the sky. "Even if the fish are dead, they could have diseases or parasites that could be introduced, especially if the water treatment system is not top notch," Ms Wilson tells Fort McMurray Today . The campaign will also target pet stores and markets, as well as groups that engage in "mercy releases", where captive animals are set free in the belief it will create spiritual "good karma", CBC News says.
Alberta has good form when it comes to banishing non-native species. For decades the region has proudly declared itself "rat-free", meaning it has no resident rat population. Occasional infestations do occur, but the government recently set up a rat hotline for residents to report any rodent sightings.
Back home in Michigan we'd have carp in the riverthat looked a like Goldfish. Many people would fish for the off from some of the river bridges. They were said to be good, but not much flesh and very bony.
I think carp and goldfish are from the same family.
Many years ago I bought an aquarium and 4 goldfish - one was white, two were gold and one was black. After a little while I noticed that the white one had lost part of its tail, then a while longer it disappeared, but the black one was bigger. Then one gold one and then the other disappeared, while the black one kept growing. Eventually it died (but I never flushed it down the toilet). I realized I was a failure at keeping pet fish and never did it again.
Look at Big Bear Lake MM...Loaded with pan sized goldfish. They can be very destructive to the native fish population.